Intolerance and Resistance: Analysis of testimony from Brazilian Military Dictatorship combatants

Abstract

This article is based on the Scientific Initiation report presented to CNPq in 2016; we will analyze testimonies from the Project “Intolerância e Resistência: Testemunhos da repressão política no Brasil (1964-1985)”. The documentation consists of narratives from political militants, who were victims of violent repression during the Brazilian civil military dictatorship period; it was produced under aegis of Oral History, in which historical subjects speak for themselves and approach their formation, childhood, education, Family, political militancy, torture, profession etc. From these analyses, we intend to advance in comprehending the motivations and ideological formation that drove hundreds of young people to enter clandestinity in order to fight the exception regime. The organizations will be analyzed from the point of view of the militants. Lastly, we will observe how, after decades, a determined type of memory has been consolidated. When this kind of documentation is used, we try to listen to the voices of the characters from the historical time in question, and, through those voices, fill in the blanks and the silencing present in other types of documentation, especially the official ones.